Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 120

From Reader, to Writer, to Author… Carolyn Wren Talks About The Diplomat's Daughter and Her Journey

Last week, I gave a friend the purchase link for my debut novel. She asked if it was for, “the whole lot.” My first instinct was to laugh, then I realized in her mind it was a valid question.  She knew I had written a series of seven books, and sold the series to a publisher weeks ago and yet they are still not out?  What was taking so darn long?
It was then I knew I had made the transition from reader, to writer, to author. 
Three years ago, before I started writing, I lived in that world where books miraculously appeared.  Where authors created, people and stories. And publishing houses bought, printed and sold them. Now I know writing the book is the beginning of the journey, not the end.
When I sat down to write my first work I was clueless as to the process.  As a book-keeper for an international minerals company, my world revolved around numbers not words.  Until one day when I woke up with a scene so clear in my head it was imperative I write it down.  So I did, and within six months I had created a seven part Romantic Suspense series.  Had I taken writing courses? Read writing craft books? Researched the do’s and don’ts online? Nope.  I simply started writing and didn’t stop.
I had no thoughts of publishing, or fame and fortune.  Just the newly discovered joy of creating stories.  A year went past.  My seven books turned into eleven.  All sat on my desktop or in the hands of eager test readers.  What on earth did I do now?
A chance article in the newspaper, pointed me to a one day publishing seminar held at the local University.  This seemed like a good idea, so I went along.
That day goes down in my writing history, as one of the worst experiences ever.  This seminar should have been subtitled, “don’t even bother; you are all doomed to fail.”  Instead of an informative series of talks on the intricacies of the publishing world,  the eager, freshly minted writers in the audience were maligned, berated and even insulted for a full eight hours.
One lady, who raised the question of writing romance was cut down mid-sentence.  We are not here to discuss romance, she was told.  We are here to discuss legitimate writing.
Such worthy quotes still stay with me. “Without an agent your work will never even get looked at.” And. “Don’t even bother submitting your first manuscript.  No one will publish a debut author.”
The last comment made me curious.  How is one to relinquish the tag of debut author, if no house will publish your first book? I watched in anger and disbelief, as the moral in the room sunk lower and lower. At the end, we all filed out, defeated, heads bent, feet dragging.
To this day, I wonder how many authors went home and never wrote again, or even worse, deleted manuscripts sitting on laptops.  That thought makes me very sad, and very angry.
From a personal viewpoint I simply dismissed the day as a pointless waste of time and went back to my writing. A few months later I was reading a book by Nalini Singh and logged into her website to find out about other books in her series.  Whilst there, I read her post about the importance of finding a writing association, and about the valuable resources they offer. This lead to an online search, and the discovery of, Romance Writers of Australia. 
What a difference from the so called, ‘seminar’ of the previous year.  These wonderful people understood new writers, encouraged and chatted, praised and commiserated when needed.  And most importantly, did not say the word, ‘Romance’ in quiet guilty whispers. Now I started to learn what I was doing right, and what I was doing wrong.  And let me just say, that finding out what the term, ‘head hopping’ meant after writing eleven books, was a bit of a shocker! I remember looking at the thousands and thousands of words in my completed books folder and resigning myself to a lot of rewrites.
Only a few weeks after joining the, RWA I entered their annual competition for unpublished writers called, ‘The Emerald’.  To my complete and utter shock, I started to progress through the rounds.  I entered the international competition, ‘The Daphne Du Maurier' awards, and again the same thing happened.
At this point, I sat down and began to seriously contemplate my next step.  Could I actually do this? Could I be published one day? Was I brave enough to try? With the incredible love and support of my husband, I started to do research. 
Fast forward, to August 2012.  I won ‘The Emerald’, I got to the finals of the, ‘Daphne Du Maurier’ and I received a contract offer from, ‘Secret Cravings Publishing’.
And I was still mostly clueless… but I began to learn.
First lesson.  Manuscripts are not books.  Those pages and pages of words are not a book.  They are a draft, which with hard work, will become a book.
Second lesson.  Your editor is your boss.  She is not there to ruin your manuscript; she is there to turn your manuscript into a published book.
Third lesson.  Editing is a part of an author’s life, it is a necessity.  Being precious about that sentence you really like and want to keep, regardless of all the reasons why it should clearly go, does not help anyone. In the weeks leading up to my very first edits, and the learning of the above lessons, I freely admit to being a mess of nerves.  What if my editor hates it? What if she changes every single word? What if it ends up being no longer my book?
I discovered something very interesting about myself.  I could worry myself into a small quivering wreck sitting in the corner.  Or I could take this invaluable information and use it to make myself a better writer.  It was the right choice. When the round 1 edits arrived, I looked at my manuscript logically and objectively.  Yes that’s right, that comment makes no sense in the context of the chapter.  No I don’t need all those extra explanations in the middle of that paragraph.  Yes that is head-hopping and needs to go.
I sliced through dialogue I considered pure Shakespeare when I wrote it.  Merrily adjusted sentences to allow for a clean flow and corrected foolish mistakes, carefully pointed out by someone looking at the story with a clear clean set of eyes.
Editors are not only necessary, they are essential.
But getting published isn’t all hard work.  There comes that joyous day when the cover art arrives.  When words become pictures! And the characters in your head are there for the world to see. What a day.  What an amazing fantastic day.  I have six more books due for release in 2013 and every one of them will be exciting.  But I suspect, seeing the cover art for my first book will always stay with me. 
Finally the big day arrives.  Final proofreading, writing the author bio, and the dedication. Then release day.
Seeing my name for the first time, on the cover of a book. My published book! Is another memory I will hold close.  All the hard work melts away.  The agonizing over the submission letter.  The time consuming and sometimes frustrating task of writing a synopsis that is concise, without skipping over the plot.  The waiting every day and obsessively checking emails to see if the publishing house has replied. Then when they do, the task of edits, corrections and revisions.
It is all worth it. 
I am no longer clueless.  Nor am I an expert.  I still need my editor and my publishers to guide me through.  But I know now that it takes hard work, time and effort to get a book published.
Now I am an author and proud of it.
So when my friend asked why only one book was coming out, even though I had written seven.  I smiled and told her, ‘all good things come to those who wait’.

***

Thank you, Ms. Wren. Loved having you. Readers, here's a blurb about Caroyln's book:

A covert operative. A life filled with secrets.

Jared Knight works with an elite group of agents trained to track down the worst criminals humanity has to offer. His career leaves no room for relationships.

On a dangerous assignment in Monaco he is captivated by a woman in a crowded ballroom. Disturbed by the uncharacteristic lapse, he is determined to forget her...

Five years later Jared offers Cecilia Benedict his protection when she becomes the object of an overzealous secret admirer. Unbeknown to Cecilia she is the woman who has haunted Jared’s thoughts. He can stay away no longer now her life is in danger.

Cecilia is intrigued by Jared’s serious manner and deep grey eyes. In the close confines they share she finds herself emotionally and physically drawn to him. An attraction grows...

But danger lurks in the shadows, threatening to destroy their relationship before it can even begin.

Buy here

Tuesday Tales: Writing Prompt: Wine

For this week's Tuesday Tale, I'm proud to say I managed to put the word wine in a work in progress. This is from Ladies Uncorked, when the ladies find out their ladies only wine tour is not really ladies only.


“Six wineries, a fancy lunch, two nights in a four-star hotel. I.Am. So. There.” Nicole tossed her long locks out of her face as she glanced up from the glossy brochure in her hands.“I brought my wine bag.” Rozella tugged the empty wine pouch, folded into a little square, from the tote bag at her feet.“That only holds six bottles.” Nicole frowned as she eyed the six divided compartments. “I’ll have to get my own.”“They’re bound to have one at one of these places.”“Guess we’ll find out tomorrow. We spend a night in a hotel first and tomorrow, the wineries. It’s a five-hour drive to get there. I still can’t believe two hundred apiece covered the fancy hotel, winery fees, and transportation.”“Here comes the bus now.” Rozella pointed at the red and white bus as it drew level with them where they sat on a bench at the station. “I feel like a giddy child.” She giggled and stuffed the wine bag back in her tote before tugging Nicole to her feet.The bus door opened with a whoosh, and all the waiting women—sixteen in all—eagerly clambered forward, ready to board. Excitement crackled in the air, accompanied by the sound of women tittering, laughing, or saying goodbye to by standing husbands or sons.Rozella’s view was hindered by the large straw hat of an old lady who pushed in front of her. She swallowed her irritation and wiped a bead of sweat from her brow.“Whoa. Would you look at that fine ass piece of man candy.”“Man candy? Where? This is ladies only.” Regardless, Rozella craned her neck, trying to see what had her friend so awed. She wanted to see this man candy too.“Well, I could be wrong,” her friend said, fanning herself with the brochure, “but I think we have a male tour guide, and he’s hotter than the sun burning my skin right now.”Finally, the old lady with the ridiculous hat moved forward and to the side, and Rozella saw a tall man, well-built with muscles showing from under his polo shirt, a military-like buzz cut, and penetrating brown eyes. Sure enough, the logo on his blue shirt said Napa Valley Wine Tours.Before she could open her mouth to agree with Nicole’s observations, the gorgeous man spoke, “Hi, ladies! I’m Blake, and I’m your tour guide for the weekend.”A chorus of feminine hellos rang out in reply.Blake placed his hands on his slender hips—Rozella noted the lack of a wedding band with a flutter of relief—and continued, “We’re going to go ahead and load up your bags. Kindly hand me your tickets as you get on the bus. I ask that you let the disabled and the elderly be seated first. We have a five-hour drive ahead of us and two days traveling together all over Napa Valley, so we’ll be getting to know each other real well.” He reached out a hand to assist the first elderly lady in line. “Any questions at all, concerns, needs, come talk to me. I’m very approachable.”Nicole snickered next to her, and Rozella finally closed her mouth. She cleared her throat. “Well, so much for ladies only.”“I’m extremely grateful for this interesting turn of events.” Nicole waggled her blond arched eyebrows.
Be sure to check out the other Tuesday Tales and see what my fellow writers came up with this week too: HERE

Bomb Girls

Lots of stuff going on in this TV show based on the life of women during WWII, more specifically bomb girls, women who worked in a bomb factory. Season one consisted of 6 episodes, of which I recorded on REELZ and watched almost back to back.

GladysGlady's. Can't say I was overly fond of the star: a rich girl "slumming" it, not in the beginning away. She thinks aiding the war effort consists of lifting her skirts for a total stranger of a solider in a dark alley. The first episode I wasn't impressed at all. She gradually begins to improve, but I sensed there may be trouble for her actions later down the road. By the end of the season, however, she was one of my favorite characters.


The rest of the cast:

Betty. She's the toughest bomb worker of them all and a lesbian in a world not ready for them. I felt her anger when she was misepresented in a movie.

Kate. A former preacher's daughter on the run with an obsession with singing. A HUGE disappointment in the end. HUGE.

Lorna. The "crew chief" who is married to a man crippled from the Great War and experiencing some frustrations because it. She loathes the Italian worker, Marco, with a passion, and for great reason. (I thought he was a dick, but my stepmum thinks he is hot. He's also one of those characters you like better in the end than the beginning. There are a few layers to him.)

Vera: Is distracted by the flirtatious Marco and gets her scalp torn off her head. As morbid as this sounds, her story is so far my favorite. I can't wait to see how she overcomes this  handicap of hers.

There's bad news received, deaths, fake letters, a thief, someone gets the clap, there's turning on one's friends, potential rapists... and lots of sexual harassment on the job. I love how the show shows how uncomfortable men's harassment can make women and the distraction leads to accidents. And of course, anytime something goes wrong, like a bad bomb, they blame the women.

As I said, not overly fond of the rich girl, but the rest of the women really sucked me into their lives and I found the factory bits though frustrating to watch at times as the men anger me, fascinating. I found myself watching them make the bombs instead of paying attention to their conversations at times.

If you see this coming up on Reelz again soon, tape it. You won't be disappointed. The shows in order:


Jumping Tracks
Misfires
How You Trust
Bringing Up Bombshell
Armistice
Element of Surprise

Website complete with episodes and tour of the bomb factor.

Crossing On the Paris by Dana Gynther

Think Titanic, but not quite. It's after The Great War, before WWII, a maiden voyage of a grand ship, but instead of focusing on class division and romance, the story focuses on women. Women's trials, tribulations, women growing, coming to terms with things, realizing this or that...find themselves.


The youngest of the three women this book focuses on is the lower class. She works on the ship, lives in steerage, is not taking well to a life at sea. I'd say she was my favorite. She has a birthmark on her face that sadly, in most people's eyes, makes her unattractive. Worse, SHE feels unattractive. This makes her susceptible to a certain engine worker's charms. The entire novel is a learning experience for this girl. Her story is sad and triumphant both.

The middle-aged lady is married with three children. She's just stepped away from her sister's shadow in Paris, her flamboyant, daring, deliriously happy sister, and she is going back to her boring life with her boring husband. When a handsome doctor shows her attention, she's tempted to do things she has never done before. But sometimes it takes a walk on the wild side to see what one really does have.

The old lady is dying of breast cancer and meets with a shock on the ship. Her past catches up with her so to speak. How will she choose to handle it? Is it too late to right a wrong? When does doing the "right" thing become bad?

Quibbles: Julie's bits were my favorite, but I got tired of hearing about her dead brothers. It goes on and on and after a while, I began to skim those parts. Constance..I would have liked to see her story turn out a bit differently, but that's just me. I'm wicked. Vera...while I appreciated her reminiscing  her journal and memories also bored me. I was really only interest in the here and now, the ship, the drama, and all the pontificating about the brothers and lovers grew tiresome.

Otherwise, I must say, the historical setting was very well done. I really felt as though I was on the ship, whether it was in the hatcheck or the engine room or the deck. The author also has a good writing style, and I appreciated that not everything ended all hunky dory. Life doesn't always end perfectly and I was pleased that I wasn't able to predict every single turn of this novel, nor the ending.

Three stars. I received this from Netgalley.



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Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past: Ida B. Wells-Barnett

[image error] Most of you probably think the fight for integration in the U.S. started with Rosa Parks and her refusal to give up her seat. In truth, this battle was waged in 1884 on a train.


While on a train, a conductor asked her to give up her seat and move to a crowded smoking car. She refused. Ida was then dragged off the train. It's said that the surrounding white passengers laughed.

Upon her arrival in Memphis, she set out to sue the railway, becoming a figurehead in Memphis society. And she was only twenty-five at this time. She won in the local court, but when the Supreme court overthrew the ruling and forced her to pay the money back, she complied...yet not with her tail between her legs.

She was persistent, having long ago grew fed up with being paid 30 bucks a month while white women doing the same job made 80. She was a teacher who dropped out of school to keep her and her orphaned siblings together.

She went on to become an editor and wrote under a paper with a pen name, constantly empowering African Americans and voicing the injustices being done to her race on a daily basis. Her focus was on the public act of lynching. She raised money to investigate the more suspect and started anti-lynching campaigns. Ida even took her cause and her fight to Great Britain.

What I like about her: Even mobs, anger, and beatings did not stop this woman from speaking her mind. And  guess what else? She was one of the first American woman to keep her own last name along with her husband's. She was a woman who lived before a close-minded world was ready for her.

She was one of the first African American women to run for public office before her death a year later.

This is def an inspiring woman in history for African Americans and WOMEN both. She fought for African American rights, and at the same time, was an example of all a single determined woman could accomplish.

Want to know more: I found this site superbly helpful: http://www.duke.edu/~ldbaker/classes/AAIH/caaih/ibwells/ibwbkgrd.html

'Til next Saturday, ladies, remember you have just as might right as the next person, stand up for yourself, and don't take "NO" for an answer. Oh, and don't forget, STRONG IS SEXY.[image error]

FREE BOOK FOR BLACK FRIDAY

FREE BOOK for three days, November 23rd, 24th, and 25th, in honor of Black Friday. The lovely flight attendant, Telma Cortez is being generous with her very own story! 



Microburst

Telma Cortez is a Senior Flight Attendant with VisionAire, and she meets every kind of passenger, handling every kind of pass lustful men can invent. Everett Samson is not like other men, there’s something more to him that draws Telma… into something much more serious than a casual dalliance.

Microburst is the latest release in the AeroRomance Series, a softer spinoff to the AeroSexual series. Each story features someone from the aviation world: a pilot, a flight attendant, a mechanic...

So the next time you fly, have Microburst on your Kindle, and you'll never see flight attendants the same again. ;)


Don't waste another second. Download HERE

Thanksgiving Blog Hop

Starting today and ending Monday, my fellow authors in Tuesday Tales are doing a blog hop. I encourage you to stop by each one of their blogs and see what they are giving away. Me, I've put together a little set of my sweet reads. One lucky commenter will win ebooks of Style Me Sexy and Maiden Behind the Mask.


My question is: Where is your happy place? When you meditate, try to relax, what's the place you visualize in your mind? *Be sure to leave your email address. I'm beyond tired of choosing winners and discovering I have no way to contact them. LOL*

Winner will be announced on Cyber Monday at my convenience.

Others participating:
Jean Joachim
Jessica Sales
V.L. Locey
Kathleen Ball
Sherry Gloag

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Sarah Niles, Danny Cooper

Book: Loving the Pink Kiss, Pink CrushAuthor: Shiralyn J. LeeHeroine: Sarah  Niles, Danny Cooper
In the sense that any of my leading ladies come across as experiencing a roller coaster ride of emotional heartbreak, depressing thoughts, or pure anger over a spiteful vixen, I implore you to think twice before assuming that they are weak in nature. These ladies are mainly based on my own actual life experience or someone who I consider to be a close friend.
Sarah Niles, my lead character from Loving the Pink Kiss is a true reflection of myself. She led the life of a party girl, shagging guys for the sake of getting some action after a brill drinking session. But her life as a straight girl was quickly dissolved as she meets a Canadian woman Robbie. Within days she senses that something is different about the way she is acting. Throughout the story she is introduced to falling in love with the right person (Robbie) but her insistence to find out about past girlfriends causes her to lose what she had just found. It takes for her to be at her lowest point in life, to be treated as nothing more than a sex toy and then tossed away like trash. When she is at her lowest point she discovers that she is worth something. Her need to belong is like a hunger and her fight returns. She finds her strength as she overcomes the bad obstacles that were thrown her way. These obstacles I myself have had to overcome. Based on my life where I had lived in a 20 year marriage knowing that it wasn't right I allowed things to happen that would never happen to me now.
Danny Cooper from Pink Crush is another fine example. Again I choose to use the finding love and losing it scenario but that's just the surface story. Beneath this, Danny's mind is in turmoil. Using the emotions that I felt when my family turned their backs on me for being a lesbian I induced them into Danny's character as I know that so many lesbians and gays have lived through these traumatic experiences.With these two stories alone my heroines have started out as raw characters thinking that they are strong but that is their undoing as this shows only on the outside. Once they find themselves being manipulated by an emotion they hadn't yet experienced...LOVE...they find that this alone can send their world crashing down in an instance.
As with the stories, Love for Lidia and The Submissive Scullery Maid I gave these characters strength from the beggining. These stories were set in the Victorian era so rather than making them out be to weak, because I feel that the Victorians had a different way of thinking than we do today, I put in place an already existing power. These stories were written in the sense of where I'm at in life today. No longer am I an emotional wreck crying over what I once had. I am in love and extremely happily married so these emotions come across in the scenes written out.
As for my BDSM stories, I use my fantasies as a base for the characters. The strength isn't with the Dom as most people who don't understand this type of world are led to believe. The strength is with the Sub. She will set the ground rules, tell the Dom how far she can go and what she definitely wouldn't do. There are two different strengths going on here. The Dom who holds the power as the viewer looks in and the Sub who creates the power before anything is performed. Going back to my first marriage I was controlled by the other person who was a dictator. It was a mental control, conditioning I would say. But now I have the control. I choose what I want rather than be told what to have. So now that I have self control I can use both sides of the emotional roller coaster and give equal strength to the ladies in these stories.
But every story that I have written has a major piece of my soul. I have lived, laughed, loved, hated and loved again. This is where my ladies find their strength. From within.
All Shiralyn J. Lee's books can be found on Amazon

iPad Mini Event Giveaway

I'm participating in this cool giveaway and I'm excited to share this opportunity for you to win an iPad Mini. Just use the Rafflecopter below. It's that simple! And good luck!



iPad Mini Giveaway Event Hosted by Mom Powered Media Please take a moment and visit our sponsors: Coupon Pro and Penny Auctions Canada!Coupon Pro is your daily money-saving blog for the hottest freebies and coupons from top brands. We want to help you save the most on everyday items your family needs. Join us today!Penny Auctions Canada is an online auction website that lets you buy awesome products for pennies! 
The iPad Mini has a beautiful display, powerful A5 chip, FaceTime HD camera, iSight camera with 1080p HD video recording, ultrafast wireless, and over 275,000 apps ready to download from the App Store. The iPad mini is an iPad in every way, shape, and slightly smaller form. Easy for on the go with that same great Apple power punch!One lucky reader will receive a iPad Mini {white}!Giveaway ends December 5th at 11:59pm, open worldwide {residents outside of the US will receive cash equivalent of $329}, ages 18+. To enter please use the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!Special thank you to our lovely co-hosts: Mommy Bear Media, Red Barn Boutique, My Vegan Gluten Free Life, What's Up - Giveaways, Contests, Promos and Deals, The Coup Diva, PR Mom Ambassador, Chant3llo's Blog,The View From 510, The World of ContestPatti, Just Davey & Me, The Flower Hazard, Sanity is for those without children and Creative Theme Wedding Ideas.


Disclosure: I received no compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Book Babe is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Thanksgiving Story for You.

Janie chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully as she perused the polished wooden table. She’d gone over it with Pine-Sol three times and rubbed it until it gleamed. To prevent scratching, she’d laid out a table runner down the center.

She eyed the color—plain orange—and frowned. She should’ve bought a new one, something more festive, more suited to the day. It was Thanksgiving, after all, and for the first time ever, her entire family was coming to her house.
Everything had to be perfect. Her mother-in-law would be there.
The smell of simmering onions assaulted her nostrils, distracting her from her work in progress. She spun on her heel and rushed to the kitchen. With a quick dash of sage and a peek at the potatoes, she went back to her table.
First, she topped the orange runner with plastic autumn leaves she’d found at Michael’s. Between Michael’s and Pier-One Imports, she’d gone way over their budget for the holiday, but she aimed to impress. Amid the leaves, went real corn stalks she’d gone to the Farmer’s Market for. She arranged them just so. She wished she had a cornucopia, but figured her idea would work just as well.
Oh! The sweet potato casserole! She had to pull it out of the oven before the marshmallows burned.Quickly she rushed to the kitchen, placed oven mittens on her hands, and withdrew the lovely casserole. The marshmallows were only lightly browned.
Perfect! Everything was falling into place!
A glance at the clock assured her she had fifteen minutes left to finish the table. The pot full of stuffing was now sitting on a pot holder, soaking up the delightful juices and broth.
Janie added tiny pumpkins and squash and stepped back to view the wealth of color and vegetables now running down the center of the table.
Urgh! Something was missing, another color.
She snapped her fingers as an idea came to her and rushed back to the kitchen yet again. The purple grapes were in the fruit bowl just where they should be. Within seconds, they, too, graced the table.
She nervously wrung her hands in her apron and glanced around the kitchen one last time. Pots sat on the stovetop with lids on to keep their contents warm. Dinner rolls glistening with butter waited to set on the table as well. Aw! She needed the  placemats, plates, and glasses.
Feeling extremely proud of herself—she had spent a pretty penny on the new dinnerware—she made sure to place wicker placemats at each setting—eight of them. Wicker placemats! She was sure nobody else had done wicker before. Wouldn’t the family be impressed with this table?
On top of the wicker mats, she laid orange-and-white plates with a leafy pattern. She had hand washed each one the day before, lovingly drying them by hand as well so they wouldn’t have unbecoming spots.
But the pride of her collection were the new glasses. Why, they looked like grapes! With the grapes on the table, the glasses with their bubbled up texture looked right at home and just begged to be filled with wine—or cider for the mother-in-law.
The glasses made a satisfying clink as she placed them by the orange-and-white plates.Once she added the silverware and napkins, her table looked perfect.
She wrung her hands in her apron once more, not sure what to do with herself now. “Harold!” she called up the stairs to her husband. “Harold, what time did you tell them to be here?”
Ding-dong!
“Oh, they’re here!” She patted down any possible flyaway hairs, smoothed her apron, and rushed to the door. “Mother! You’re the first one here!” Janie greeted her stern-looking mother-in-law with a peck on the cheek.
“Oh, the others are right behind me.” Mrs. Lancaster nodded in the direction of the driveway as Janie took her mink coat from her. “What a lovely table, my dear!” She gasped and placed her wrinkled hand on her breast. “Well, you really did go all out, and to think I doubted we should have it here, that you couldn’t handle it. I stand corrected.”
Janie gritted her teeth and was tempted to drop the mink on the floor and declare oops!,but she merely smiled and headed to the kitchen to grab the cider for her mother-in-law and the merlot for herself!Just as predicted, the rest of the family—father-in-law, brother-in-law and his brood, and a cousin—marched in the door chattering and divesting themselves of their wraps within moments.
Harold finally joined the fray and amidst the laughter and talk, Janie pointed out who sat where and to her great surprise, Mrs. Lancaster began helping her serve the meal.
But just when all was ready and everyone was oohingand aahing, Janie realized what she had been missing all along. In her haste to make a perfect table, in her all her fretting and worrying about today, she’d forgotten one thing.
“Janie my dear, you’ve got a great spread, but where the heck is the turkey?”